State Dept. worker stricken by anthrax

Strikes on Taliban, al-Qaida targets rage on

By

AllenWan

GregMorcroft

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- An employee at the State Department's mail-handling facility fell ill with inhalation anthrax Thursday night as the nation discovered additional outbreaks of the lethal bacteria.

Authorities also identified the more serious nature of some of the germs being used.

As a result of the latest case, the State Department said it was testing all of its employees and it would suspend all incoming mail.

After testing thousands of Washington-area postal workers for anthrax, officials set up spot checks for other employees nationwide and offered Cipro to thousands of workers.

In all, three people have died from inhaled anthrax, including a Florida man. Dozens have tested positive for the less-dangerous skin form, including employees or family members from the three major broadcast networks.

U.S. officials have been giving varying accounts on the danger of opening mail. The White House has told Americans that the mail was "overwhelmingly safe," but to be alert anyway. The U.S. postal chief offered no guarantees on the safety of delivered mail. Aiming to put the recent anthrax scares into perspective, U.S. officials have stressed that 50 billion pieces of mail have been delivered since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Homeland security chief Tom Ridge said that anthrax found in mail delivered to Sen. Tom Daschle's office was a highly concentrated and pure form that was made "to be more easily absorbed" by its victims.

The only three countries that can produce such an advanced form of anthrax are the United States, Russia and Iraq, published reports say.

Possible inhalation victim

The latest possible victim of inhaled anthrax is a reporter who covers Congress, authorities said.

The reporter would be the first confirmed victim of inhaled anthrax on Capitol Hill if tests confirm the disease.

Word of the reporter's possible exposure follows news from Capitol police Wednesday evening that they've discovered anthrax in a new location in the Hart Senate Office Building, just as another Senate building was the first to reopen after a letter contaminated with the bacteria was found on Capitol Hill.

House and Senate office buildings have been shut for anthrax checks since dozens of staffers at Daschle's offices tested positive for the disease.

Though Congress' five other office buildings remained closed, wary workers were allowed back into the Russell Senate Office Building across the street from the Capitol on Wednesday morning. The building houses the offices of 36 of the Senate's 100 members.

While House leaders were hoping to begin reopening some office, Daschle said he hoped another Senate building would be usable as early as Friday.

Congress returned to work earlier this week and has been working in a bipartisan manner to reach agreement on an antiterrorism bill. Both houses have approved the bill and it's expected to be signed by President Bush on Friday.

The new law will give new powers to U.S. law enforcement authorities to track suspected terrorists through enhanced wiretapping, electronic surveillance and Internet monitoring. It permits law enforcement agencies to detain noncitizens for up to a year. See full story.

Afghan campaign continues

According to reports, U.S. forces attacked suspected hideouts of Osama bin Laden in the eastern Afghan province of Paktia on Thursday.

"We have been hearing the roar of U.S. planes and bombing of Gora Tangi area for the past four days," a witness in neighboring Pakistan told Reuters. The area reportedly attacked is in the same general area the U.S. under the Clinton administration attacked with cruise missiles after two bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa.

The reports also stated that the air raids on Taliban positions on the front lines north of the capital Kabul continued Thursday.

It's widely believed in military circles that if the Taliban defensive positions north of the capital are breached, Kabul could quickly fall into the hands of Northern Alliance fighters currently about 40 miles from Kabul.

Authorities in New York are investigating two vials of salmonella bacteria sent to former President Bill Clinton's office in New York. "This has nothing to do with the other mailings" that have spread anthrax in other cities, the AP quoted a Secret Service spokesman as saying Thursday. Salmonella is a common food-poisoning bacteria

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States may never capture Osama bin Laden. "It's a big world. There are lots of countries," he told USA Today. "He's got lots of money, he's got lots of people who support him, and I just don't know whether we'll be successful."

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